Laverne Cox snubbed by TIME’s ‘100 Most Influential People’ list despite placing fifth in readers’ poll
Transgender actress Laverne Cox was snubbed by TIME’s 100 Most Influential People list, despite placing fifth in the magazine’s readers’ poll.
According to Buzzfeed, the activist and ‘Orange is the News Black’ star was omitted from the list, despite doing far better in the online poll than the conventional stars who were included, including Amy Adams, Benedict Cumberbatch and Miley Cyrus and Beyonce.
At the launch of the readers’ poll, the editors had said: “While TIME’s editors will choose the TIME 100 — our annual list of the most influential people in the world — we wanted readers to have a say too.”
However, the magazine declined to comment on why the trans activist, who was recently awarded GLAAD’s highest honour for her advocacy work, was left out of the final list.
Cox received 80,960 votes in favour and just 7520 votes against, compared to inductee Miley Cyrus, who received just 19,261 votes in favour and 29,013 votes against.
Video blogger and ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ author John Green, a surprise entrant on the final list, has since taken to Tumblr to criticise the snub.
He said: “Laverne Cox is the most visible trans person of colour in the world and she has helped millions of people to learn about trans people and the discrimination they face.
“I think Laverne Cox is one of the most important and influential people in the world and should’ve been included in the TIME 100.”
Gay NBA star Jason Collins was the most prominent LGBT figure featured on the final list.
